Thoughts on the 5th Sunday of Easter 2026
Acts 7.55–end; Psalm 31.1–5, 15–16; 1 Peter 2.2–10; John 14.1–14
Let’s begin with the celebrated words in John 14:6: ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'
Last week we dwelt at length on the image of God as Shepherd and Jesus as the Good Shepherd – the Just One who seeks and finds and restores and heals. The One whose leadership is more than worthy of our trust, while the credibility of our own political leaders is coming under scrutiny as we speak, and is found wanting.
If you remember, in last week’s Gospel Jesus also calls himself ‘The Gate’ or ‘The Door’ and today he says something similar when he calls himself ‘The Way’.
He couldn’t really be any clearer could he? To those seeking God Jesus proclaims the same words he addressed to Philip: 'If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’
Philip can’t yet see what I hope we can all see as we sit here this morning, because he asks again (as though the words Jesus has just spoken to him have bounced off rocky soil and failed to take root): Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
He may as well say, ‘Stop looking FOR God and wake up to the fact that you are looking AT God!’
Our Shepherd-King is also the Way and the Truth and the Life. He’s the Guide, the Path and the Prize at the end of it. He’s the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and once we begin to see this our striving upwards in search of God begins to ease, because we begin to see that he has come down to search for us.
Later in our Gospel reading Jesus says these words: Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’ (John 14:12-14)
Now I have heard those words used by preachers to encourage Christians to step into what is often called ‘Signs and Wonders’ and there is no shortage of Saints in our history who have ‘done the works that he did’, by working miracles in the name of Jesus. I don’t want to devalue those, and I hope and pray that God might work his miracles among us, in this Benefice, should it please him to do so. I am not anti-miracle, far from it; I have experienced my own and I am grateful for them.
But I wonder whether, in the context of our readings today, we might focus on a different kind of ‘Sign and Wonder’; a different kind of ‘Work’. I wonder whether today we might think about the wondrous work of forgiveness because that’s a work we are all called to.
In our 1st reading from the Acts of the Apostles Stephen, while he is being stoned to death, utters words of prayer that mirror almost exactly Jesus’ own words while he was being put to death on the Cross. Here’s what it says: While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died. (Acts 7:59-60)
Remember that Jesus also prayed that God would forgive those who were crucifying him while they were in the very act: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do! (Luke 23:34)
It’s easy to be selective when it comes to the spiritual life isn’t it - as though it were a pick-n-mix type of thing. So when we hear that we are called to do the things Jesus did it’s pretty normal to imagine ourselves in a heroic role, fighting for justice and healing the sick and guiding the lost.
I wonder today whether we might indulge in a different kind of imagining. Can we bring ourselves to imagine ourselves forgiving those who have hurt us?
Now I need to acknowledge the fact that we are in very delicate, sensitive territory here and you will all have your own responses to that question.
For some forgiveness might come relatively easily; for others, not so much. Some of us have suffered far more at the hands others and some far less.
So I am not pushing anyone here to do something they are not ready to do, but I am suggesting that if you are carrying a burden of resentment against anyone, you might try a little experiment in the safety of your own imagination, and picture what it might be like not to be carrying that burden any more.
When others have hurt us it can often be experienced as a theft. I’ll explain: it can feel as though they have robbed us of our dignity when they have embarrassed and belittled us; as though they have robbed us of our joy and innocence when they have betrayed us; as though they have robbed us of our confidence and trust when they deceive us; and robbed us of our sense that we are beautiful and loveable when they abuse us.
Yes, that’s right – in God’s eyes we are beautiful and loveable. See Psalm 139:13-14 on this which says, For you formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
So if you are able to, close your eyes for a moment and begin a conversation with your Shepherd-King. Remember that he loves you more than you can begin to understand and know that you don’t need to put on a mask and act like a so-called ‘good-Christian’ in his presence. You can tell him the truth – the unvarnished, plain and simple truth.
If the truth is that there are people you resent, name them and tell him you resent them. He understands and feels your pain too.
Go further if you need to: if there are people you hate, name them and tell him that you hate them. He understands that too.
And you can go even further if you like, because it’s safe to do so: if there are people you would really like to hurt because they have hurt you, name them and tell him that this is what you think about. Tell him that there are moments when you fantasise about revenge and getting your own back. He already knows that’s what you do and he doesn’t judge you for it.
He is the one who said, Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)
So come to him. He’s the Shepherd of your soul. He’s your healer and your protector; your comforter and your friend.
Imagine Jesus looking at you with nothing but love and approval in his eyes. Allow that look of his to seep into the depths of your soul; into the deepest sense of who you are and ask him to take away all the shame and the pain of those hurts you might be holding on to.
Imagine yourself handing them all to him so that he can take them away and deal with them. And hand over to him those people who have hurt you too. Give them to him to deal with. Put them in his hands.
Ultimately no-one has the ability to take from you your inherent dignity because that’s something given to you by God. It is given by the very fact that you were created in his image and called to be a bearer of his likeness in this world.
One more thing that’s worth remembering: it’s important that we live with a keen sense that we also need to be forgiven for the hurts we have inflicted ourselves. We are not pure victims – there was only ever one of those and his name is Jesus.
Remember whenever you pray for the grace to forgive others you have also, in your turn, needed the forgiveness of God for the things you have done.
Perhaps that’s why the Lord’s Prayer is worded in the way that it is: we ask first for our own forgiveness before declaring that we also forgive others. In some sense our own slate needs to be wiped clean before we can address the slates of others.
So if, after all that, you feel able to do so, let’s pray those timeless words from the Lord’s Prayer together: Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Amen. God bless you all.
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